Time Diamond
by Reevee21
Summary: Inheriting Time is hard. Managing it is harder, while having traits from its original user, plus evading a team "Mythose" who is hunting down Time's power for nefarious purposes, alongside looking for locations accidentally disorted by time's rebounds, AND letting go of the past life the inheritor had. Dante got caught in the "wrong place", as Palkia would say. And the wrong time.
1. Chapter 1

***Flashback to a few nights ago as I was having stomach problems due to Mononucleosis***

 **"** **Hhhhhm…but if I make him do some kind of merge with Dialga, then I wonder if he'll become part Dragon type or part Steel type…? I guess I'd need to find out what type humans are. I'm gonna say they're Normal. Aww, that makes everything complicated…**

 **Eh, you know, I'm just gonna wing it. Let's give him, like, steel bones or something. And a dental arrangement might be in order."**

 **(Stomach problems make me kind of villainous. I mean, if you can't handle the pain on your own, might as well get your characters involved, am I right?) (…please tell me that's not just me.)**

 ***** ** _BACK TO THE FUT_** **—I MEAN** ** _THE PRESENT_** *****

 **So basically, this was a spin-off/prequel of a book I have in the plotting stages. This one takes place about fifteen years before the other; it details events of a few minor characters that may or may not end up showing up in that other book in the first place. I'm not even sure if I'm gonna post this before or after that original book, but if you find a fic called** ** _Terra Ruby_** **with my name as the author, then it's been posted afterwards. If not?**

 ***Pats story on the back* Good for you,** ** _Time Diamond_** **, you got finished first! Probably because you're about five times less complicated. Also, because I'm in a Sinnoh-y mood since I restarted that Pokémon Diamond game. As a male character. Even though I'm clearly not a guy. OH WELL *shrugs helplessly*.**

 ** _DISCLAIMER: Reevee21 does not own Pokémon or anything affiliated with it, including (but not limited to) the Hoen region, the 700 plus Pokémon in existence, the theory of a Pokémon Trainer, or Dialga. She only owns this plot in itself and the characters made for it. (For that matter, she also does not own things that are referenced here, things she sings/states at certain instances, any major businesses that may make cameos in this, or Dialga.)  
_**

 ** _SECOND DISCLAIMER: Reevee21 does not own Dialga._**

* * *

 ** _Time Diamond  
_** _a Pokémon fanfiction by Reevee21_

 ** _Chapter 1_**

Rock crashed into steel with a loud, metallic bang before grinding into it fiercely. The steel didn't budge and resisted just as hard, eventually pushing back with a Take Down.

The rock—namely, a rock-hard head armed with four backwards-facing spikes and a pair of violent, red eyes—stumbled back a bit. It shook its head from dizziness before snarling and pawing at the ground with one of its clawed feet.

The steel monster braced itself and called out in a metallic tone, warning about there being much more where that came from. Its small, stubby feet pawed at the ground with the same kind of resistance that it showed when the rock creature had rammed it. "Shiiiieldon," it hissed warningly.

"Crani!" the other called.

The ground was already dusty and torn, and it was getting even more scuffed up from the pair's fight; scratches and indents littered it. A mountain loomed in the background on the steel type's side while another practically overshadowed the fight from the left, both watching silently from their positions. The fiery evening sky burned on the horizon. The area was completely clear besides the two, manno-on-manno, a prehistoric fight discontinued only by time.

(A town a short distance away and a few trainers standing on the sidelines nearly ruined the effect, but it's the thought that counts.)

The rock creature charged the steel monster again, but went in at a curve that aimed at the steel monster's softer body instead of its face.

But it saw this coming and, moments before the rock creature hit it, flipped itself on its back legs.

The result was another ear-ringing bang that echoed through the mountain range, catching several new watchers' attentions while maintaining those that had heard them earlier.

"Cran-i!" the rock creature snorted, frustrated.

The dust it blew got into the steel monster's eyes, making it squint them shut. "Shiiiiield…!" it muttered to itself.

The rock creature's mouth perked into a smirk. It shoved upwards on the steel monster's shield as it was distracted, grinding with an even more irritating sound, before pulling away. It leapt, spring boarding off the shield face of the steel monster, and instantly plummeted down head-first at the steel monster's more sensitive back.

 _CRANIADOS used HEADBUTT! A critical hit!_

The steel monster moaned in a pain cry before collapsing, making it an inch shorter than it already was. The rock creature flipped itself back onto its feet, shook itself, and let out a victory call.

"Shieieieeeellld…" the other responded, dazed.

The edge of its face was caressed by a trainer's hand, which ran over the new scratches with dismay. "That might take a few days to heal…" a solemn voice muttered.

The Cranidos turned to face the trainer, who in turn looked up at him from behind a pair of thin glasses. He looked to be fourteen, though it was hard to tell from his skinny frame; he could very well be twelve or eleven. His eyes were dark and focused, his skin pale with hints of having freckles, and his dark blue hair was tied back into a short ponytail that barely touched his shoulders. He wore a blue, V-necked sweater with a gold-colored polo shirt underneath and a pair of dark gray pants; his dark yellow backpack had a few book novels poking out.

He rose an eyebrow in the Cranidos's direction. "Nice attack, Clark. Very strategic of you. Heat of the moment?"

The Cranidos growled a response under his breath as he approached, victory glory crushed.

The trainer fished out a small, metal ball divided evenly into two parts—one red, the other white—and pressed a button on it to the Shieldon; near-instantly, the Shieldon dissolved into an infrared light that retracted into the ball.

He rose, giving the Cranidos ("Clark") a scratch on the reinforced skull before heading towards the town. "Come on," he encouraged, getting Clark to follow him. "We can't leave Lewis hanging."

The town was a lot like something being dug up from below; the roads and much of the ground were rock and soil, but buildings jutted up from them in all their metal-and-glass glory. Some of them, half-finished, waited patiently at the edge of town while others had people streaming in and out in choppy, disconnected streams.

It got thick enough at one point that the trainer had to return Clark to his Poke ball; he was already pushing it with all these open targets prime for head-butting moving around, he didn't need someone to get snagged on Clark's horns or claws, too.

Eventually, he came to a large, white building with small windows spanning its tall two stories. The door was underneath a circular, domed entrance that was only one story high, only a short way away from a stone sign reading " _Oreburg Mining Museum: Coal Mining and You."_ It was at the very corner of town, closest to the mountain that parted Sinnoh in two, and didn't have half as many people around it as the other, smaller buildings.

He entered and found the inside to be just as uncrowded. A hallway lead him straight to a desk where a pair of accountants looked busy at their computers, but it opened up at the right to a display area. A large rectangle of coal had been put on an equally huge stand and had several people gawking at it. Minerals were posed in cases, boxed with glass and propped on metal stands—everything from diamonds to dust (samples). A potted plant sat strategically in each corner, accomplishing their lifelong goals of sitting there and not wilting.

The boy strode past the large coal display and stopped at the desk. "Is Dr. Meridan here?" he asked the attendants.

One of them looked up, recognized the boy through a sheen on his glasses, and answered, "Yep. In his office. You know; second floor, on the right, then 'straight on 'till morning'."

"What?"

The attendant smiled a bit. "An inside joke. You know, 'second star to the right', Peter Pan and all that. You haven't heard it yet?"

"No. I guess I should hang around more often," the boy muttered.

"Oh-h-h, _please_ no," the attendant laughed lightly. "We've already got one who won't grow up, we don't need another nerd hanging around here twenty-four seven."

"We're all nerds," the boy huffed.

"Sad but true. Nice talking to you, Dante."

"Same here," he remarked, heading in the direction of the staircase.

A long time ago, someone had taped a note reading "one small step for man, one huge leap for mankind" on the staircase's right wall (probably sometime during the past thirty-one years). No one ever really had the heart to take it off. The lab may have specialized in digging under the earth instead of launching humans above it, but it meant the same thing: progress. And that was what everyone strived for. Including his father, no matter how crazy he went with fossils.

Dante reached the door of the "labs and offices" floor, second to the right, and opened it with a quiet click. Tables lined the room, and they in turn were lined with scopes and samples of every sort—plus the occasional stack of note-coated paper. Filing cabinets filled the spaces between the windows and personal desks were against the right and left walls; only one of them was occupied, by a man with dark blue hair cut short and rough.

He looked up from a report paper of some kind that he had been writing, breaking into a smile even at Dante's stony face. "Hey, Dante."

"Hi. So, I got that recording of the fight you wanted," he stated casually, walking over and handing the man a video recorder.

He took it and opened the screen on the side, hitting play and watching the first few seconds of the fight from earlier. "That's great," he said. "Lewis and Clark took each other alright?"

"Battle-wise, sure. Clark won in the end."

"Don't spoil it for me!" the man scolded, sliding a fake glare towards Dante before glancing back to the video. He frowned at the sight of Clark's ending stunt.

"Something wrong?" Dante perked, leaning in to see.

"No, that actually signifies a lot; Clark's adrenaline and processing skills came out fine based on this," he muttered. "But I'm a bit disappointed that Lewis didn't have much of a reaction at the jump…"

"Lewis doesn't have much of a reaction to much, really," Dante shrugged. "It's just his character. Frankly, I'm surprised Clark could think of a move like that, him being so bullheaded."

"Is he?"

"That's what I've seen. Maybe you just need to get out of here more," Dante suggested.

The man—Dr. Meridan—stood up and stretched, answering, "I can't do that. As long as those miners keep finding fossils in their coal, I'll be stuck up here all day, trying to turn them into something alive."

"You could always hire an assistant or something."

"I have you for that."

"…true."

The doctor chuckled lightly. His life could be documented in his finds; he met Dante's mother upon her surfacing the only full Aerodactyle skeleton in Sinnoh and married her around the same time he formed a briefly-alive Clamperl out of one of their ancient ancestors (its underdeveloped-yet-lovely pink pearl went into her wedding ring). He created Sacage, the first living Aerodactyl on record, shortly after the pair moved from the outskirts and into the town or Oreburgh; and his son shared his birthday month with the experimental pair of Lewis and Clark.

If his record of having important dates interlope with science discoveries meant anything, then something was bound to happen on the day his fossil-reviving services were made open to the public. Speaking of which…

"So, when are you going to start doing revivals?" Dante asked.

Dr. Meridan finished scratching down the battle results on the report before answering, "I'm not quite sure yet. The museum is still iffy about funding it, I'm not sure if trainers even find fossils that often, and if they do come piling in, I could make a mistake and wind up not giving a Kabutops it left eye or something."

"Yikes."

"Yea," he sighed, leaning back and letting his bangs drift out of his tiered, hazel eyes, "it might never get out of the plotting stages, but it never hurts to dream."

Dante glanced down and shuffled his foot awkwardly. Dr. Meridan kept reminiscing. Lewis was asleep in his Poke ball and Clark was staring off into space in his. The room was completely silent, only interrupted by a motor's hum or two from other rooms.

"…hey, I was wondering if I could head into Hearthome tomorrow," Dante mentioned.

"Oh?"

"I have to return some books. And get new ones," he added quietly.

Dr. Meridan nodded in understanding, gathering up the papers and putting away some calculating equipment in preparation to leave. "That would be fine. Just take the Pokémon with you."

"Lewis? Or Clark?" Dante questioned, following him out the door. "Or Sacage?"

"Your mother would probably say 'all of them'. I mean, it's Mount Coronet, after all," the professor chuckled. "Mountain of Legends and all that. It's the year 2000, and humankind is still so superstitious…"

* * *

 **Mmmm mmm, plot build-up! I know I say this at the end of just about every chapter, and I know that only half of those chapters ever amount to anything good, but imma say it anyway: "This is going to turn out really well, isn't it?"**

 **Pokémon We Met Today:**

 **Lewis  
Lv. 30  
Male  
Sturdy ability**

 **Clark  
Lv. 31  
Male  
Rock Head ability**

 **Humans We Met Today:**

 **Dante  
Fourteen  
Unofficial Pokémon Trainer  
**

 **Dr. Meridan  
Thirty-Eight  
Pokémon Researcher (Archeology)**

 **And a random Clerk male that will probably show up maybe one other time. Let's call him Bob!**

 **Please follow and/or favorite, leave a review on your way out, check back here for more chapters, and HUG AN EEVEE, EVERYBODY! BYEEEEE!**


	2. Chapter 2

**WELP, about twenty-four hours of being up and it's already got two favorites and two followers. That's probably good!**

 _ **DISCLAIMER: Reevee21 still does not own Pokemon or anything affiliated with it, only an obsession that's probably not healthy and this fic in itself.**_

* * *

 _ **Chapter 2**_

As opposed to Hearthome City's busy streets and constant large-settlement din, Mount Coronet was even more foreboding and eerie.

Dante had taken a route carved by trainers after dozens of treks from Oreburgh to Hearthome (and vice versa), one that was nevertheless populated by wild Pokémon he had to fight or flee from. The cave was surprisingly wide and branched to other areas of the mountain; as far as he understood, it went right through the mountain's heart. Then again, it could have been because he was used to cramped mining tunnels and small, coal-filled caverns instead of wider paths like these. Those always left black dust on your clothes and were alarmingly overpopulated with Geodude gangs; this one, meanwhile, was littered with stones he had to traverse by and was alarmingly overpopulated with Zubat packs.

For protection from venomous fangs, he had Lewis on his left and Clark at his right. And some heavy books. And an Aerodactyle in his back pocket.

"Okay, guys, we're about halfway through by now," he noted at a familiar-looking pile of rust-colored rocks. "…thank Arceus. I can never get over these Zubat."

"Cra-ni," Clark huffed, turning around and sending a pointed glare at a Zubat clutching an upside-down rock spire with its back feet.

The little thing cocked its head and stared after them with tiny eyes, its fangs barely poking out of its mouth and its ears perked to catch noise, before flapping in the opposite direction with a quick "Zubat!"

Clark growled, indignant, before being hushed off by Lewis as the Shieldon toddled past. Lewis's method of travel was a bit inefficient. He could only hurry along at the speed of a young child, having small feet compared to his body—and whenever he encountered a ledge of any sort leading down, he had to stop abruptly and sway a bit to keep himself from falling heavy-face-first into the ground. Then again, his calmness cooled down Lewis and his defense skills were invaluable, so…you take what you can get.

The three continued on in silence. Lewis mentioned something to Clark at one point, who muttered back a response; Dante satisfied a sudden desire to re-organize the books in his backpack according to size as he walked. It was about three minutes of pristine peace in Coronet, free of a Zubat or Geodude or random Machop attack, with no one but the dynamic pair of Lewis and Clark, the son of a fossil studier and coal miner, and a dozing Sacage.

At four minutes of quiet, all the Zubat in seemingly the entire cave perked up. Dante noticed one besides him look around itself in confusion and he stopped, Lewis and Clark pausing as well.

A loud, distant crash sounded from somewhere above them. Many Zubat up and left then and there; those without sonar skills were left to gawk at the ceiling and wait for something to happen.

Dante set his jaw and turned to Lewis and Clark, pulling out their Poke balls. "We're getting out of here. Return, you two."

"Shield," Lewis remarked as it was pulled in.

"Dos," Clark snorted.

After putting them back in his bag, he did the smart thing to do when it sounds like an avalanche is gonna hit; run.

* * *

Back in Oreburgh, several miners on lunch break were hanging around the outside of the coal mine—with, among other things, their lunches.

One, a woman in a faded red miner's uniform, who had oak brown hair pulled back and saturated with dirt and dust, was smiling to herself. There was a missing space on her belt where an Aerodactyl's Poke ball usually hung and a ring with the pearl of a Clamperl on her right hand's ring finger. She was currently halfway through a turkey sandwich.

A large Pokémon resembling something like a snake made out of roughly-cut rocks was curled up into a mound of stone nearby her, dozing peacefully, when it sensed something. It lifted its head suddenly, and she turned to face it.

"What's the matter, Jeff?" she asked it.

The snake made a noise similar to "Grawawawawaw" and faced Oreburgh's side of Mount Coronet; she turned that way and watched as a landslide of rocks and snow came tumbling down it.

Her face froze mid-chew. She turned to the others and shouted for their attention.

"Somethin' up, Beck?" one of them hollered back.

"Coronet's got an avalanch!" she answered, pointing to the mountain.

Several gasps and questions arose as the group watched another slide of stones fall from another portion; it was loud enough to hear a rumble from their spot and just barely shift the ground.

"Aw, man!"

"Is it the spring thaw?"

"Might be—or a couple Abomasnow are in a tussle!"

"Hey—that's where the entrance to it is!" one young man in particular pointed out, starting forward as the slide fell over the entrance and settled there—with more behind it.

More cries of alarm and shouts to assisting Pokémon followed. Beck set her face in a way similar to what a boy and his pair of fossil Pokémon did not too long ago; determination ran in the family. "C'mon, Jeff," she summoned, tossing the rest of her sandwich away.

The rock snake shot out and snapped it up, the morsel of food disappearing into its massive jaw.

"There's bound to be at least one hiker who needs to be bailed out of that cave."

* * *

It felt like the entire mountain was having an epileptic fit, and he was caught in the heart of it.

No matter how fast he ran towards an open pathway in the mountain, it was always blocked up with rocks by the time he got to it—even those leading deeper into the mountain, to possible safe zones. Boulders plummeted from the ceiling and cracks destined to trip someone kept breaking around him; what made it worse were the cries of panicked and wounded mountain Pokémon around him, reminding him constantly that he had three other lives depending on him finding a way out.

He eventually got stuck in a ringlet of stone walls and boulders that kept him in a circle about twice as big as the museum's first floor, with a dark ceiling that dropped more rocks—be they pebbles or boulders—on him.

He stopped running after about five seconds of realizing he was trapped. He pressed against one of the more loose-looking walls for ten seconds before discovering that it was too thick to budge.

The shaking slowed to occasional, barely-detectable rumbles and the Pokémon cries fell silent or to quiet mutterings past his stone prison - occasionally stirred up again by smaller rock slides caused by the avalanche. It stopped raining minerals on him for a time.

He waited, silent save for panicked breaths, with his back pressed against the wall. A stone fell past his head and snagged the edge of his glasses, jerking them off his face. They hit the ground with a solid crunch, the right frame cracked and the left shattered to pieces.

"Oh, come on," he grumbled, picking them up and glaring at them like it was their fault for him getting stuck in an unsteady mountain. (Technically, they were, since if he didn't like reading so much he would have waited a few days to return the books and have missed this scenario entirely.)

He folded them up and stashed them in the pocket of the bag, noting with slight worry how the rock had scratched the side of his face. A few small drops of blood developed on the edge of it.

He waited longer, more silent and a bit grouchy, wondering if he should break out Sacage and try to find a flyable escape on the dark ceiling of the cave.

A loud bang echoed through the mountain before he could.

" _WHOA_!"

An enormous chunk of the ceiling plummeted into the center of the ring, taking with it a beast almost equally massive. Upon hitting the ground, it shattered, Dante crouching down with his hands over his head to try and not be harmed by flying pieces of rubble.

A layer of dust blanketed the area, a weak roar sounding over it. Human voices, distant and from far above, shouted to each other in a muffled din he found similar to that of when miners found a large vein of coal. By the time the dust had settled (somewhat, with swirls of it springing up if one were to shuffle their feet), at least three dozen people in uniforms had surrounded the beast laying on the ground.

The uniforms in question looked professional enough, with violet shirts under dark green jackets and baggy, pine-colored pants; their black boots went halfway up their calves and dark green patrol caps hid the color of their hair.

A few stood firm while others ran determinedly to their places, and Dante watched silently in a one-knee crouch as they engaged the beast.

"Psychic types near the head!" one commanded. He was lean and stood straighter than the others; his had was frayed at the edge and he wore a black, leather jacket instead of one of the green ones. "Binders at the limbs! And _do not_ attack! Don't hurt it more than we already ha—"

The beast bellowed with a roar that shook the cave and sprung more avalanches. A sphere of light formed and grew near its mouth; after swinging its neck around, it poised it forward and shot a beam of pure, devastating light.

 _The wild ? used FLASH CANNON!_

The strange soldiers dove out of the way with yelps and shouts, many of the unprepared and unfamiliar Pokémon they used getting caught in the blast—namely the Psychic-types that had been sent to disarm the beast. Dante himself had to scramble out of the way when the beam almost hit his side, launching himself away just in time to not be obliterated.

Psychic types of many kinds and levels, from Abra to Medicham to pink cats and green blobs resembling cells, turned up on the opposing end of the blast—some of them burned to a lifeless crisp and others merely knocked out. Their trainers, half of the group in total, tore out of the hole in the wall to get them back.

"Hey, you!"

Dante whipped around, eyes wide.

The leader approached Dante, his boots shuffling the dust and kicking rubble out of the way, until he stood at about the same length an opposing challenger would stand. He glared at Dante sternly; the boy flinched at the coldness in his maple-colored eyes.

"What's a kid like you doing in Mount Coronet?" he demanded.

In the background, the soldiers watched as their target lowered itself out of weakness and watched the confrontation, its raspy breath sounding like it had gritted its teeth.

"I was traveling out of Hearthome when I got caught in the avalanche," Dante responded levelly, maintaining eye contact no matter how harsh the man's eyes seemed.

"That was no avalanche," the leader growled. "That was Dialga struggling against us."

The name Dialga reached him and pulled a thousand emotions out of seemingly nowhere; he stood straighter, holding back a gasp at the beast behind the ranks of soldiers.

Its dark blue skin gleamed like painted steel despite looking exactly like flesh; lighter blue lines ran along it, aligning with steel claws on its sturdy legs and the metal horns on its long head. A growth that could only be called a breastplate was centered on the creature's chest, with a large, blue diamond planted in the center of it, and iron spikes down its neck pointed to a fan-like structure of steel near its tail.

It crouched low, its skin cut and beaten in large bruises and wide slashes, its red eyes glaring with a very easily-sensed venom. It was watching him.

"…well?"

Dante's attention snapped back to the man, though he didn't forget the presence of Dialga.

The commander himself was glaring even harder. "You better high-tail it out of here, kid, unless you want to face Mythose as well."

"But that's Dialga!" Dante protested. "A frillin' legendary Pokémon! Why the heck are you beating it up?! If anything, you should be _cowering in fear before it_!" _Like what I'm trying not to do right now,_ he added mentally.

"That information is not yours for the hearing," the man responded evenly. "But you're right, aren't ya? That is Dialga. And it is a beauty."

Dialga snapped its tail from where it crouched, slapping one person hard enough in the head to knock them out. It kept watching them, silently building up power within itself. With every second this boy delayed for him, its weak cower became more faked. Somewhere in its mind, it was scolding himself for getting caught in a scenario when it was waiting for more time (the domain it created, for crying out loud) from something besides itself.

"So can you understand our requirement to contain this monster, son?" the man snapped. "It isn't just there to look at. It has plenty of raw power prime for the taking. Time itself, as a matter of fact."

Dante stepped back, keeping level.

"You say we should be cowering," the man snorted. "Why so? Humankind has caught plenty of monsters before, kid. Big ones. Strong ones. Beasts who can kill a city's population in about five minutes, spirits that can steal away your life _and_ afterlife, monsters that live only for the purpose of killing others."

Names were flashing through his head of these beasts. They added to a growing list in his head of who was at the top of the pile; 'humans' rose ever higher.

"Now it's time we take out the legends, too."

A pause followed. Dante considered the scenario, trying to find the right side to be on—that of the 'Team Mythose' that seemed dead-set on enraging the higher powers he only heard of in legends, or that of one of the legends that looked about ready to pass out. The commander wasn't giving him much time, it seemed.

But he needed some more. And he was about to beg for it.

He glared at the commander, silently challenging him, and pulled out Sacage's Poke ball from the pocket of his jeans. "You know, the civil way to resolve these sorts of things are through a Pokémon battle."

"Are you asking for trouble, kid?" the commander muttered. Though he plucked a sphere of his own from his belt—a Dive Ball, Dante noted.

"Maybe."

A few soldiers had turned around to watch out of interest; if their commander backed down, not only could Dante interfere with the capture of Dialga, but he would seem weak.

"…might as well give it to ya. I've got some time to kill, then Time to catch."

 _Mythose Commander Phineas_ _wants to battle!_

Gyrados, you're up!" the commander called, flinging the Dive Ball.

It opened and unleashed a blast of white light, which formed quickly into a massive, draconic creature; its large scales rippled with power as it rose to its full height and its mouth gaped with large fangs as it roared.

"Sacage, Take Down!" Dante ordered as he tossed his own Poke ball into the fray. A light burst from it and stirred up dust as it stooped along the ground; when it came into the clear, a trail of white energy following it, it had taken the shape of a wide-winged, large-jawed, stone-skinned monster.

Before the Gyrados could properly react, Sacage had rammed the center of its body in a reckless tackle.

 _Sacage used TAKE DOWN!_

The Gyrados swung back but barely budged from the attack, yet a massive bruise now occupied its middle section.

The Aerodactyl circled around before touching down in front of Dante, spreading her wings wide and letting out a shrill shriek.

The commander did what he did best; shout a command. "Aqua Tail!"

The Gyrados roared before raising its tail off the ground and charging it with a blue, wet energy. It swung the charge forward, which developed into a tall wave pushed forward by its massive lower body.

Dante jumped back to avoid it, though the attack hit Sacage head-on—the Pokémon's form being engulfed in the wave and slammed onto the tail.

 _GYRADOS used AQUA TAIL! It's super effective!_

"Crunch it!" Dante called.

"Crunch it—" the commander repeated before noticing how close Gyrados's tail was too late.

 _Sacage used CRUNCH!_

The Gyrados roared in pain, shaking up the already unsteady cavern and dwarfing the sound of crunching carapace. It rose its tail from the ground, taking Sacage with it—she refused to let go of it, even if blood was staining her teeth and the whole thing smelled like fish.

The commander gritted his teeth in frustration. "Ice Fang!"

"Get out of there!" Dante hollered.

Sacage met the Gyrados' furious glare with taunting eyes, even as the monster's mouth grew misty from the building up of ice on its fangs. As it lunged for her dangling form, she let go of its tail and let it bite the open wound, instead.

 _GYRADOS used ICE FANG! It missed!_

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" the commander complained, letting loose a roar of his own as Sacage snapped open her wings and glided back to Dante. His Gyrados roared again, letting go of its tail with distaste; it slammed the ground, splashing partially-frozen blood on the rocks, and roared in pain and anger.

"Ancient Power!" Dante ordered.

Sacage bowed her head and folded her wings in, appearing to sleep where she had perched on the ground. The rocks around her (and there were plenty to go around) were encased in an aura long forgotten by many Pokémon, drawn into the attack by the fragments and cores in them that had lived through much and seen many different times. They hovered for a few moments before being launched forward by that power, pelting the Gyrados.

 _Sacage used ANCIENT POWER! It's super effective!_

The Gyrados let out a weak wail before hitting the ground in unconsciousness, covered in bruises.

 _GYRADOS fainted!_

The commander's eyebrow rose. "I can't believe this…you're pretty good, kid. That Aerodactyl yours?"

"It's my mom's."

"…mama's boy."

"Shut up."

The Dive Ball swallowed the Gyrados as it deformed to red light, and the commander returned the fainted Pokémon to its spot on his belt. He pulled out another—an Ultra Ball—and called, "well, there's plenty more where that came from!"

Dante looked over Sacage as she uncurled from her position and regained her perky movements. She was badly bruised from the Aqua Tail and looked weary from using Ancient Power (melancholic, even), though still waited expectantly for the commander's next move.

Then both parties heard a low-pitched growl.

The commander whipped around at the sound and spotted a white build-up of energy around Dialga, one that had formed into a spiral beneath it like how they had first found it—only smaller, and considerably more violent-looking. It straightened its pose and glared at the group pointedly; many of the soldiers and their Pokémon backed up from it, muttering in awe and caution.

Sacage hissed to herself and backed up a few steps, spreading her wings in front of Dante as a low hum of building energy echoed through the room.

He watched Dialga, intrigued.

"…what are you doing?!" the commander shouted. "Contain it! Get that thing under control before it—"

 _DIALGA used ROAR OF TIME!_

 **Pokémon We Met Today:**

 **Sacage (Sacagawea) - Aerodactyl  
Lv. 45  
Female  
Rock Head ability**

 **Dialga  
Lv. 100  
? but referred to as Male  
Pressure ability**

 **A random Gyrados that I don't want to discuss**

 **Several Psychic types including Abra, Meditite, Espeon, and Solosis**

 **Humans We Met Today:**

 **Becky Meridan  
Forty  
Coal miner  
**

 **Phineas  
Thirty-Seven  
Mythose Commander**

 **Foot soldiers and some _special_ foot soldiers that are wearing outfits that look like the offspring between a dance trope outfit and a US military uniform**

 **Leave a review, tag along with a Follow and/or Favorite, and hug an Eevee, everybody!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Dum de dum~ I'm just kind of updating randomly at this point~! It kinda feels like feeding a dog, really. Like it's a rainy day and I'm sitting on a back porch in some old city, throwing scraps of meat to a stray dog to see what it'll do for them.**

 _ **Like I'm stooping below my level -**_

 _ **DISLCAIMER: Reevee21 still does not own Pokémon or anything else affiliated with Nintendo, and probably never will during her short, slightly productive time on Earth.**_

* * *

 _ **Chapter 2**_

Dialga let out an earsplitting, metallic scream that vibrated the entire cavern and sent any sturdy rocks left above crashing down; one hit the commander and silenced his screams to his men. Waves of white power launched alongside the roars, exploding at different distances and at different points. None hit Dante or Sacage, only the recoiling pulses from their bursts—except they were too occupied with trying to block out the sound to notice.

A minute passed with nothing but Dialga's scream, rocks crashing to rubble, the mountain shaking in an earthquake-like fit and the strange soldiers shouting and yelling over the clamor. It faded away to echoes in Dante and Sacage's ears, which in turn spoke of a thousand times in a thousand places; like storytellers were passing them by and whispering snippets of their tales as they went.

Slowly, Dante removed his hands from his ears. He blinked away dizziness and spotted Sacage on the ground, having flung herself there during the noise. He returned her to her Pokeball silently and looked around.

Rocks had buried and knocked out Mythose soldiers all around, and a few lay on the ground, unconscious, with their bodies half-scorched and blood dripping from their ears. Dialga had collapsed and was laying limp, panting while surrounded by a loose circle of unconscious men.

He found his feet moving in that direction without even noticing, and soon found himself crouched in front of Dialga, the embodiment of time itself. His heart pounded in his chest and his breath fluttered. "W-wow…" he managed, speaking solely in awe.

" _…_ _ **thank you, child.**_ "

Dante jumped at the voice. It was deep and graveled like a road of stones being stepped on, and echoed with a metallic hint. Dialga's eyes opened slowly, seas of red that had seen much but seemed exhausted beyond belief now.

"What?" Dante questioned quietly.

Dialga watched him, unmoving. " ** _For buying me enough time to finally defeat my pursers…"_** the voice breathed. " ** _For letting me die a victor and not a captive."_**

"Letting you—"Realization hit. "…you can speak?"

" ** _No. You can understand. My bellow often has that effect; telling of languages and voices, informing of Pokespeak and human-speak alike. If any of these other humans were to awaken, they would find their language expanded as well…_** " Dialga's voice faded to a metal echo.

"You're hurt," Dante noted worryingly. "Just…hold still for a bit, maybe I can dig out that old Super Potion in my bag or something—"

" ** _I cannot be saved._** "

"No—you have to, you're Dialga for crying out loud, if you die then time's going to stop or have some other terrible fate. You have to live. You're a Legendary Pokémon, for crying out loud."

Dialga watched silently as the boy took off his sweater and scurried over to one of the Pokémon's larger wounds—a wide gash that one of Mythose's Aegislash had created along his side. He pressed it against the wound, the blue fabric quickly being stained dark red by blood. It smarted a little, though Dialga said nothing.

" ** _…_** ** _you seem determined to prevent death, child._** "

"…let's say it runs in the family."

" ** _Oh…?"_**

The boy kept working against the blood with a stony face. "My father revived that Aerodactyl. He took DNA out of some amber and reconstructed it from only that, one painstaking cell at a time, until Sacage was created. Then he did it again—with a Craniados and Shieldon. Lewis and Clark. Defeating death is his motto."

Dialga considered the tale. " ** _…back when Palkia and I were in relations, he told me of a world parallel to ours. Two beings in it, Lewis and Clark, explored a vast and savage wilderness for the good of their kind…aided by their guide, Sacagawea…"_**

"Huh." Dante's mouth formed into a small smile. "That's a pretty nice coincidence."

" ** _I know of coincidences,"_** Dialga murmured. It could feel its strength fading, leaving it with a limp body and a responsibility for Time itself. " ** _When two events cross over each other, similar but unique, in a rare meeting…such as you becoming trapped in this cavern, leading to us meeting each other."_**

"…you're bleeding's not stopping," Dante huffed. "Just…don't fall asleep. I need you to not go unconscious for me. And for time."

As Dialga's strength faded, time became warped; the colors of rock and blood in the cave were slowly fading out to gray, and Dante found his movements slow—like the air was thickening into water. He kept futilely trying to stop it, while Dialga silently considered another plan. He had tested this boy to be loyal, and willing to help him. But would he be willing…?

" ** _…_** ** _what is your name, child?_** "

"Dante. Dante Meridan," he responded.

Dialga made its choice. It was going on a limb on this one, as a final act before it left this world; it might not work. But it could also save time.

" ** _Dante…I have already asked much of you. But…may I…entrust something to you?"_**

Dante turned his head to stare at Dialga quizzically, meeting its pleading eyes. "…sure."

" ** _Come over here, please._** "

Half of his instincts were shouting against him getting up and going before Dialga. The other half were left behind with trying to prevent Dialga's death. He was telling them both to shut up.

He bent on one knee before Dialga and waited expectantly as the creature lifted its head. It shut its eyes and murmured an ancient language in its tiered, groveling voice—a tongue that Dante couldn't remember in the Roar of Time. He shut his own eyes against an intense glare from Dialga; quieter and more peaceful than the legendary Pokémon's earlier attack, but still of the same source.

A spot on his chest began to burn with pain, and he hissed through his teeth and clutched it. His instincts were muttering 'I told you so'. "Dialga, what…?!"

" ** _I'm sorry…Da_** _nte…"_

"What do you mean, you're sorry? Dialga! DiaAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

The pain spiked considerably, feeling like a sword had been shoved clean through him. A branch of it raced up his face and put a knife of pain through his right eye; another curled around his ribs and cut a deep slash at the end of his back. It attacked his brain with the same mercilessness fury as the Roar of Time, only five times more painful and dizzying.

It shot down his spine again and he shot up from the respectful kneel, screeching in pain. He was dimly aware of the fact that Dialga's overbearing presence had faded; he lost Dialga entirely in the face of this. And a hum of power had blurred out all other noise—tainted with a bizarre ticking noise that pounded in his ears.

He screamed again as the pain pressed upon him and found himself keeling over, coughing blood as his lungs felt like they were punctured. He lost the energy to scream when it became too much, even as a foreign and immense power saturated him; he recalled the Flash Canon from earlier, how it gave off this same feeling when it rushed past him, expect only a faint aura and not an intense burning sensation that made him want to die.

Something—several things—snapped into unfamiliar places and a few other things ripped from unknown pressure. The pain, ever so slightly, lightened. His vision was blurred and dark and his focus was about the same, completely off of saving Dialga. Off getting through a cave, or returning books, or helping a father institute fossil revivals.

He succumbed to unconsciousness and fell to his knees, then onto his front—landing on a hide he noted in a daze to be cold and blue.

* * *

Then time started up again.

A creature, perched in a cross-legged position in a state of relaxation when time had stopped, opened one eye in awareness that it had begun again. To this being of power, time stopping was about as influencing as, say, a shower being turned off for a bit while you're still in it. It didn't effect it too badly, but it was definitely influencing enough to notice.

It tilted its head downwards and fixed its view on the glassy floor below it. It was divided into clear squares that shone through to a broken, temple-like structure a few stories below—and, below that, the very tip of a mountain that overlooked the entire region. It was a high-and-mighty place for a high-and-mighty creature like itself, basic and clean, above influence by every aspect the creature was above. Flowing wind, dribbling rain, scorching fire, pounding time, growing space, even all-consuming antimatter. The only connection to it and the world below it was a tall, stone staircase attached to the broken temple below it; still grand and plain, yet quite the mission to scale.

The creature rose from its relaxed position like someone getting off the couch to get a remote. A gold ring halfway down its back barely shifted with the movement, its tail waving and mane swishing despite the air being still.

It waited for a while. Then it got tired of waiting on something that was below it.

" ** _…Dialga!_** " it called in an echoing, surprisingly high-pitched tone. " ** _Has time gotten out of hand? What went wrong?!_** "

"Arceus!"

The Pokémon looked up, catching sight of a man who was running up the stone stairs to it.

His hair, an odd color of faded gray streaked with gold strands, had been cut short but still ruffled at the top and back. Gray stubble showed on his smooth cheekbones and his skin was vivid yet fair; his eyes were gold, speckled with silver. He looked to be around thirty, though the creature knew better. Appearances always deceive.

As he came to the glass platform, panting, the man's off-white trench coat stopped being harassed by the cold, mountain winds and stilled at his calves. His gray pants, surprisingly casual and thin for the chilly mountain peak, hid the upper parts of his dark gold boots. He carried no pack of any sort and wore only a long-sleeved, white shirt underneath the gold-buttoned coat.

" ** _Beta,_** " Arceus addressed, a signal for the man to speak.

"I…" he gasped, "I've lost track of Dialga."

" ** _How does one lose track of such a power? He should be residing in his dimension,_** " Arceus muttered.

"That's the thing," the man sighed, smiling nervously as he faced the Pokémon. "He was dragged out of its realm by a group of humans."

" ** _They have the Red Chain in their possession?_** "

"I'm not sure," the man doubted. "However they managed got Dialga out of his realm, they did—then they fought him. Dialga ended up fleeing into the mountain, and a final Roar of Time later, his…his aura faded."

Arceus faced the man, not quite stunned but certainly something along those lines. " ** _…Beta, are you sure of this disappearance?"_**

The man looked down with a somber expression. "Yes. The stunt in time was another thing proving it. My alpha, Dialga is dead."

Silence overtook the area. Arceus itself was above emotion—most forms of it, anyway—but Beta seemed in grief; it was like losing a close accomplice, a partner-in-arms, one who seemed (and was, by all means) impossible to loose. Killed by humans. The worst fate for an immortal.

" ** _…no,_** " Arceus huffed.

Beta felt the urge to question, but he settled with looking up quizzically.

" ** _Dialga has not left completely,_** " Arceus continued, turning around and stepping to the edge of the platform. " ** _Being the master and source of time, if Dialga were to leave, time would stop. It stunted, but did not stop. And if Dialga were to leave this world completely, I would be the first to notice; his presence is faint, but it still remains. Dialga is not fully dead."_**

"But his life-force has vanished," the Beta noted sadly. "Could he have been captured? Or left a trace of power?"

 ** _"…I think a more plausible excuse could have happened,"_** Arceus said simply. " ** _Dialga loves his work and would never leave it orphaned, should he have a failure in the task to exist. Legendary Pokémon like us hate forcing our work upon mortals, but for something as pivotal in their lives as time, well…"_**

Arceus turned around, putting its back on the factor it had in mind as well as the snowy mountainside. " ** _Beta, I need you to investigate the area where Dialga first appeared—as well as where he disappeared."_**

"Yes, alpha," Beta nodded, bowing his head and crossing an arm over his chest.

 ** _"Take the Lake Guardians with you,_** _"_ Arceus ordered. " ** _If those humans used the Red Chain as you say, then it is their responsibility for its management—and containment._** "

"Of course."

" ** _One more thing…_** " Arceus ducked its head for a moment, eyes closed in concentration. It looked back up with a determined gleam in them. " ** _If you find any creature with Dialga's traits, human or Pokémon, bring them back to me."_**

"Uh—of course, Arceus, but may I ask what Dialga's traits may be?" Beta asked, smiling nervously again.

Arceus' face remained firm. " ** _You will be able to tell when you see them."_**

* * *

 **Pokémon We Met Today**

 **Arceus (so, first off, _holy cow._ )  
Lv. 100 or so  
? but treated as Male  
** **Multitype**

 **Humans We Met Today**

 **"Beta"  
Roughly 2000-ish. He forgot around 1845.  
Arceus' divine intervention  
**

 **Some of those footsoldiers, except they're dead now. *SIIIIGH*...curse my bloodlust...**


End file.
